At about 20,000 miles, my original ignition cylinder is about worn out. It has been getting increasingly difficult both turn on the car and remove the key, so I figured before I got stuck somewhere I would replace it.
When looking to source parts, I came across a matching Vauxhall replacement cylinder, manufactured by Febi(#02748), which is the same dimensions as the one in our Roadster.
Since I knew I wanted to use my existing key, I looked at for a good instructional video on how to re-key the new one to match my existing key. The video is here:
Lots of good tips in the video. I found out that when putting my inserts into the cylinder during the re-key, two things occurred: first, two of the OEM inserts were too wide to fit into the Febi housing without binding. Luckily I was able to use some of the Febi inserts in their place to ensure smooth operation. Second, when I was inserting the inserts into the new housing, the springs remained in the cylinder and I was able to insert the entire sequence, then squeeze them into the cylinder with thumb/forefinger, then insert the key.
For removal/ replacement, I used this page:
A few things:
Do you only need to remove the mirror half of the steering column to do this job.
Since I reused my original inserts, I cleaned them with mineral spirits and gave them a LIGHT coating of thin grease- think Vaseline in consistency.
When releasing the cylinder from the housing, I found a 2 mm hex key worked well for both releasing the cylinder and pressing down the steering lock tab as seen on the wiki page.
When you release the cylinder using the 2 mm key, make sure to have your hand over the cylinder so it doesn’t shoot out of the steering column. Ask me how I know.
If you’re done any sort of mechanical work. If I hadn’t been distracted by my family while I was doing it it would’ve probably been a 45 minute job from start to finish.
$18 later, it sure is nice to have a key that turns and pulls out smoothly!
When looking to source parts, I came across a matching Vauxhall replacement cylinder, manufactured by Febi(#02748), which is the same dimensions as the one in our Roadster.
Since I knew I wanted to use my existing key, I looked at for a good instructional video on how to re-key the new one to match my existing key. The video is here:
For removal/ replacement, I used this page:
A few things:
Do you only need to remove the mirror half of the steering column to do this job.
Since I reused my original inserts, I cleaned them with mineral spirits and gave them a LIGHT coating of thin grease- think Vaseline in consistency.
When releasing the cylinder from the housing, I found a 2 mm hex key worked well for both releasing the cylinder and pressing down the steering lock tab as seen on the wiki page.
When you release the cylinder using the 2 mm key, make sure to have your hand over the cylinder so it doesn’t shoot out of the steering column. Ask me how I know.
If you’re done any sort of mechanical work. If I hadn’t been distracted by my family while I was doing it it would’ve probably been a 45 minute job from start to finish.
$18 later, it sure is nice to have a key that turns and pulls out smoothly!
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